Chapter 5: Lit, page 33.

I have done this repeatedly.

The San Diego Comic Con is rapidly approaching. In case I haven’t mentioned it, I will be on a panel, Nappy Hour, hosted by Keith Knight. We shall be accompanied by Dwayne McDuffie, among others. It will be like every other panel full of black people at Comic Con, except no rappers and less whining about stupid bullshit we all forgot to care about. It’ll be from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m, on Friday, in Room 3.

Discussion (32)¬

I know how Numbers feels. I start a random thread about a TAZ wiki and ohmigod Spike read it and ohmigod she posted it on the comic and OHMIGOD I spelled ‘its’ with an apostrophe when it’s supposed to be a possessive not a contraction! The internet will crucify me! :D

So, does Spike read these? How much of that last panel came from the comments that Numbers sounded like Zora?

I know, there’s a forum too, and I’m sure it also came up there (no time to lurk – too many comics to read), but is there a feedback loop at work somewhere, or is it just a coinky-dink (as Popeye would say)?

Nowhere near as weaved a web as that. I joined the forum, on a bit of a whim really, and posted a random thing saying I think Templar should have a wiki. Spike read it and now it seems my random post is now a thing.

Even an appearance of impropriety or even individual affection seems like it would be counterproductive. Seems like all the good revolutions work through people acting like people, but get thrown off by people acting like people…in other ways.

It’s pretty condescending when a man calls a woman who works for/with him “honey.” Does he address the men in the movement with adorable cuddly pet names? Probably not. It’s a habit that reinforces the notion that men have names worth remembering and women have nicknames/are interchangeable, that men work and women fetch coffee, that there is a divide between the two.

I think it depends on work environment, too. When I worked blue-collar, as the new person I was called “doll” and “honey”, just as the new MALE workers were called “sport” and “kid”. It seemed more a sign they were comfortable enough around us to poke fun more than anything. In white collar jobs, though, I have always been addressed by “miss” or by name.

The casual use of nonspecific pronouns as a stand-in for proper names is hardly the exclusive tool of the Great Male Oppressor; men do the same thing to each other on a constant basis– and generally with a much more insulting and belittling tone than when talking to women– because men can turn almost anything into a ridiculous unnecessary dick-swinging contest. I’m-a go out on a limb here and say Barnabas McMartyr-For-The-Cause is probably not being deliberately patronizing or misogynistic.

In Texas (and “The South”), terms like Honey, Dear, Sugar, and Sweetie are primarily used by women, usually Of A Certain Age. It’s like a rite of passage when they stop calling you Child and start calling you Darlin’ instead.

Yeah no that’s not applicable, person-who-wrote-a-comment-years-ago. “Honey” is nothing like “dude”. Honey is what you call a girl you’re dating. It’s an overly affectionate word and throwing it around is sleazy.

I’d consider the term as condescending as “champ” is when used correctly, except it’s just generally more accepted towards ladyfolk.

Judging by the fact she qualifies it as a “personal request,” I’m thinking it’s more of a pet-peeve that originated from the “sweetheart” Biggs aimed at her on http://templaraz.com/?p=231 (as someone pointed out a few pages ago), which provoked quite the bold-fonted response from her on the following page. Since Biggs was certainly being condescending, she probably now views any man-to-woman term of affection in the same light, even if it’s most likely coming with good intent, as with Barnabas.

And anyway, Numbers is probably thrilled by it, “misogyny” or no. “Wow… Barnabas John called me ‘honey’ [swoon]“

I just know so well that feeling Numbers has at the last panel… a few times I’ve been face to face with some of my favourite authors when getting an autograph for their book at a convention, and once or twice have had a TV camera aimed at me (usually at said conventions, when some local channel has been looking for a bit of colour in the form of interviewing a random victim) and on both types of occasions it seems like my IQ drops 50 points and my mouth goes on automatic gears. And afterwards I feel like I should keep banging my head against a wall until I either pass out or forget what a dumbass I was just a few moments ago… XD